Sermon Blog Post: Hosanna 2021

Euphoria evaporating

Mark 11:1-10

Video link here:

https://www.facebook.com/1148262109/posts/10224453477941667/

This morning I want us to start by taking a trip back in time.

As time travelling goes it is a short trip, but for me it is a slightly a painful one.

We are going back to last Saturday night. I am sat on my sofa, unable to move, eyes fixed on the TV.

Rugby.

Wales have beaten Scotland, Ireland, Italy and England. Only France stand between us and the coveted Grand Slam.

There are 30 seconds to go and Wales lead by 3 points.

We just need to hold on for 30 seconds!

Imagine the scene in virtual pubs throughout Wales.

Men and women in national costume wave flags and sing in rapturous anticipation.

Hymns and Arias, Mae hen wlad fy nhadau, Bread of Heaven.

Within 2 minutes, the euphoria has evaporated.

France win with the last touch.

Fans take the virtual road home, heads bowed.

Ready to celebrate but now tomorrow is just another day.

In a bitter twist players who were 30 seconds away from being national heroes, are bombarded with obscenities on social media.

National heroes to national disgrace.

30 seconds!

On Palm Sunday we remember the occasion in Jesus’ life that we call the Triumphal Entry. In your Bible it probably says “ Jesus comes to Jerusalem as king”.

But there is no formal coronation. And is there much we would call triumph?

One commentator Donald English refers to it as the Lowly Entry (The Message of Mark (BST)).

Those of us who know the story know that this event culminates not in coronation but in crucifixion.

God’s idea of triumph is nothing like ours.

All four gospels record this event in their own ways.

Luke and John provide us with some context.

Luke describes how Jesus has been telling parables about the Kingdom of God.

John adds that these events follow the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Not everything about Palm Sunday was quite as spontaneous as we might imagine.

This triumphal entry though is full of meaning.

John sets the scene by indicating that a great crowd has gathered for the festival.

The festival is identified as the Jewish Passover. Hundreds of thousands of people would as a matter of course be converging upon the city of Jerusalem.

As another Welshman Tom Jones would say, looking at the crowds – “Its not unusual”.

Much of what we read of in the Palm Sunday accounts would have taken place anyway but the way that things happened on this occasion was no accident.

Jesus had very deliberately planned what was going to take place.

John picks up that the great crowd, already arrived for the Passover, knew he was coming.

The gospel writers identify Jesus approaching Bethphage and Bethany (the home town of Mary Martha and Lazarus). These towns are identified as being on the Mount of Olives, a place significant in Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.

The circumstances surrounding Jesus’ mode of transport that day are far from accidental.

While John baldly announces that Jesus found a donkey, in Mark and Luke He tells his 2 disciples to go to the village ahead to find a colt which is tethered. It is a youngster. Never ridden. They are to untie it.

This is not a case of donkey theft. It is a loan arrangement.

Jesus even anticipates that the disciples will be seen and that questions will be asked to which an agreed answer, like a spy’s password, is to be given.

“The Lord needs it”.

Mark and Luke record that those who asked the question seemed to be perfectly happy with the answer they received.

And the further assurance of the animal’s return.

It is then that the disciples throw coats on the colt and Jesus takes his seat on it.

The crowds join in spreading cloaks on the road, with no apparent concern for dry cleaning bills.

Caught up in the moment.

But why was this so significant?

Its only a  man riding on a young donkey.

Yet the crowd’s voices are raised.

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest.”

Jesus is quite intentional in riding a lowly donkey rather than a thoroughbred.

Back in Israel’s history, as David arranged for his son Solomon to be anointed as king of Israel, Solomon would travel to see Zadok the Priest on David’s own mule.

Even the king of Israel could be humble.

But the people recognised their king:

“Long live King Solomon!”

There is certainly that sense here of a people greeting their king.

In 2 Kings 9 the people of Israel spread their cloaks under another new ruler as they announced “Jehu is king”.

Matthew goes further to tell us that, from the moment the disciples went looking for the colt, this happened “to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet”.

The prophet Zechariah:

‘Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ‘ Zech. 9:9

Righteous and victorious and lowly. Probably only 1 of those 3 words would normally be associated  with a triumphal entry.

But this king is different. Unlike many of Israel’s kings he is righteous. In contrast to most he is lowly – the opposite of what you would expect.

Hosanna is a word which has been adopted in our hymns and worship songs but people might be surprised that in our English Bible, this is the only time the word appears (in Matthew Mark and John’s accounts). Luke does not even think to mention it.

The word is literally translated as “save us”.

It seems the word had been adopted as an expression of confidence in God as saviour.

People would ordinarily sing and wave branches on the way to major festivals in Jerusalem.

It is likely that this song would have been sung by the crowd even if Jesus had not been there, but it is because Jesus IS there that the full significance becomes clear.

There were those who recognised, in crying “hosanna!”, that this man riding a donkey was able to save.

They were calling out to him for deliverance.

They knew they needed a saviour.

Perhaps they wanted saving from the Roman occupation.

Or perhaps there was something more in their minds.

The Pharisees, typically, protested at this uncivilised noise.

They are already concerned as word spread about the prophet who has raised a dead man. They cannot see what that amazing act points to.

Instead they are determined to look for a way to get rid of him.

With all this euphoria it seems strange that Jesus does not take the opportunity to do anything dramatic or spectacular.

No miracles today.

No wonderous stories.

The whole city was however stirred to ask “who is this?”

It is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth.

Is he a prophet, a king, or a saviour? Do the people have any idea?

The crowds are excited, noisy, curious but ultimately they just melt away.

Like last Saturday night the euphoria evaporates.

It’s all a huge anti-climax when you look at it.

Some would even go so far as to suggest that the same crowds later that week were calling for Jesus to be crucified.

Could it be that just as those rugby fans turned on their players, this crowd turned on Jesus.

It’s one thing to lose a rugby match and upset your fans but it is not that obvious why the crowds deserted Jesus.

At very least we know that they were nowhere to be seen. Jesus would now be deserted, almost totally alone.

Donald English comments that:

“Those present did and shouted all the right things, but there is no indication that they grasped the real significance of what was happening”.

How easy for all of us to say the right things in the crowd but not as we go about our daily business.

How easy to shout “Hosanna!” in our worship services but to deny our saviour by the things we do and say to those around us.

It’s not enough to worship Jesus with our words on a Sunday. We need to worship him with our lives every day of the week.

How many of us can say we truly do that?

Are you and I as fickle as a Palm Sunday Hosanna shouter?

Ultimately Matthew records that there is not a happy end to this day. Jesus weeps over a Jerusalem that cannot see their saviour stood before their very eyes.

Perhaps at the end of the day Jesus is not  what they are hoping for.

What kind of Messiah do we think Jesus is?

Does he come to bring us blessings and prosperity and comfort? To make everything alright?

Or do we have a humble, servant king who, as we often sing, “calls us now to follow him”?

And what does it mean to follow him?

How do we go against the crowd and demonstrate what life in all its fullness, eternal life, is all about, and what it looks like in the here and now? That Jesus IS the one to follow.

Do we even know Jesus as our Saviour this morning? Have we experienced his salvation for ourselves?

We are told that the disciples, Jesus’ closest followers, would not understand what was going on that Palm Sunday until after the cross and resurrection.

Jesus may not ultimately have been regarded as victorious on Palm Sunday. But victory will come in an unlikely way.

Actually it will look like a defeat as he dies on the cross. But in that death is his victory.

And our hope.

Hosanna!

Zechariah prophesied a king who is lowly, humble.

This is the Jesus Paul describes in those verses that are now even more familiar to many of us, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-8)

That is the Jesus I hope we recognise this morning. This will be our focus as we share communion shortly.

Not just humble as he rides a donkey, but humble as he lays aside his power as the eternal God the Son, and surrenders himself to a criminal’s death.

The one in whom we find salvation.

Hosanna! Save us!

The one in whom we can be truly confident.

The one we worship.

The one whose attitude Paul says we should imitate.

The one who we commit ourselves to follow.

In this Holy Week as we head towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday, let us take time to grasp the reality of the one who sacrificed everything, so that through his death and resurrection we can know forgiveness and life.

If you do not know the life that Jesus bought at such a heavy price, in the spirit of Palm Sunday, you can call on Jesus. “Hosanna! Lord save me.”

If you know Jesus, remember to live humbly as he did.

Let’s remember to worship him with our words and also with our lives. Let’s follow the humble king.